Claims
- 1. A method for reconstructing shapes in a three dimensional set of image data, the steps comprising:
(a) using a data set of two dimensional images to provide a displayed image; (b) applying indications on the displayed image; (c) developing a surface reconstruction from said indications of the displayed image; (d) polygonizing the surface reconstruction of the displayed image; (e) using the polygonized surface of the displayed image to develop the displayed image into a reconstructed shape; and (f) displaying the reconstructed shape.
- 2. The method according to claim 1 wherein prior to step (f) of the polygonized surface reconstruction of the displayed image is filled in an interior area using voxelization to obtain a solid three dimensional image of said reconstructed surface and said solid three dimensional image is then displayed as the reconstructed shape.
- 3. The method according to claim 1 wherein said data set is at least one stack of two dimensional image scan slices having salient features.
- 4. The method according to claim 1 wherein said applying step (b) includes drawing the two dimensional contours from two dimensional image scan slices utilizing livewire techniques.
- 5. The method according to claim 4 wherein said livewire techniques include switching between livewire drawing and freehand drawing by a user with a switching mechanism on a mouse permitting a user to draw a troublesome portion of a contour by freehand and returning to livewire drawing when desired.
- 6. The method according to claim 4 wherein said livewire technique includes overlaying one scan slice with another scan slice and clicking a point on a contour to move it to a desired location in order for all neighboring pieces to moved into registration when said slices are aligned well on an area of interest in said slices.
- 7. The method according to claim 4 wherein said livewire technique includes inputting a contour by using a graphical wireframe cube and cutting planes through said cube so that an accompanied multiplanar projection image of the cutting plane through said data set is displayed along side said cube and that by rotating said cube and moving said cutting plane an appropriate viewing plane can be selected that provides a significant contour and shape features of an area of interest.
- 8. The method according to claim 1 wherein said developing step (c) includes reconstructing a surface image using subsampled contour points of said data set and a variational implicit function to obtain a set of parameters that describe a three dimensional shape of said reconstructed surface image.
- 9. The method according to claim 8 wherein said reconstruction is sped up by reducing the number of contour points selected for subsampling.
- 10. The method according to claim 9 wherein the steps of claim 1 are repeated to obtain a better approximate 3 dimensional image by increasing the number of contour points selected for subsampling.
- 11. The method according to claim 1 wherein said surface reconstruction of the displayed image in step (d) is approximated utilizing polygonal patches.
- 12. The method according to claim 2 wherein said polygonized surface identifies data representative of an obscuring portion of the displayed image and a subtracted data set of representative of the obscuring portion is developed so that the obscured portion can be removed and the rest of the displayed image visualized.
- 13. The method according to claim 11 wherein said rest of the displayed portion is visualized display by laying said polygonal patches into a discrete volumetric grid and filling in an interior area of said reconstructed surface using voxelization thereby obtaining a solid three dimensional image of said reconstructed surface.
- 14. The method according to claim 1 wherein said solid three dimensional image obtained is displayed as a solid.
- 15. The method according to claim 1 wherein said solid three dimensional image obtained is used as a mask to constrain a data set.
- 16. A system for reconstructing shapes in a three dimensional set of image data, comprising:
(a) a data set of two dimensional images to provide a displayed image; (b) means for applying indications on the displayed image; (c) means for developing a surface reconstruction from said indications of the displayed image; (d) means for polygonizing the surface reconstruction of the displayed image; (e) means for developing the displayed image into a reconstructed shape using the polygonized surface of the displayed image; and (f) means for displaying the reconstructed shape.
- 17. The system according to claim 16 wherein prior to displaying the reconstructed shape, the polygonized surface reconstruction of the displayed image is filled in an interior area using voxelization means to obtain a solid three dimensional image of said reconstructed surface and said solid three dimensional image is then displayed as the reconstructed shape.
- 18. The system according to claim 16 wherein said data set is at least one stack of two dimensional image scan slices having salient features.
- 19. The system according to claim 16 wherein said means for applying includes drawing the two dimensional contours from two dimensional image scan slices utilizing livewire techniques.
- 20. The method according to claim 19 wherein said livewire techniques include switching between livewire drawing and freehand drawing by a user with a switching mechanism on a mouse permitting a user to draw a troublesome portion of a contour by freehand and returning to livewire drawing when desired.
- 21. The method according to claim 19 wherein said livewire technique includes overlaying one scan slice with another scan slice and clicking a point on a contour to move it to a desired location in order for all neighboring pieces to moved into registration when said slices are aligned well on an area of interest in said slices.
- 22. The method according to claim 19 wherein said livewire technique includes a graphical wireframe cube and cutting planes through said cube to input a contour so that an accompanied multiplanar projection image of the cutting plane through said data set is displayed along side said cube and that by rotating said cube and moving said cutting plane an appropriate viewing plane can be selected that provides a significant contour and shape features of an area of interest.
- 23. The method according to claim 16 wherein said means for developing includes reconstructing a surface image using subsampled contour points of said data set and a variational implicit function to obtain a set of parameters that describe a three dimensional shape of said reconstructed surface image.
- 24. The system according to claim 16 wherein said reconstruction is sped up by reducing the number of contour points selected for subsampling.
- 25. The system according to claim 16 wherein the system of claim 16 is repeated to obtain a better approximate 3 dimensional image by increasing the number of contour points selected for subsampling.
- 26. The system according to claim 16 wherein said surface reconstruction of the displayed image is approximated utilizing polygonal patches.
- 27. The system according to claim 17 wherein said polygonized surface identifies data representative of an obscuring portion of the displayed image and a subtracted data set of representative of the obscuring portion is developed so that the obscured portion can be removed and the rest of the displayed image visualized.
- 28. The system according to claim 26 wherein said rest of the displayed portion is visualized display by laying said polygonal patches into a discrete volumetric grid and filling in an interior area of said reconstructed surface using voxelization thereby obtaining a solid three dimensional image of said reconstructed surface.
- 30. The method according to claim 17 wherein said solid three dimensional image obtained is displayed as a solid.
- 31. The system according to claim 17 wherein said solid three dimensional image obtained is used as a mask to constrain a data set.
RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] The present application is a continuation in part application of U.S. Provisional patent application Ser. No. 60/180,889 filed on Feb. 7, 2000 and claiming priority thereto pursuant to 37 C.F.R. 1.120.
Provisional Applications (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
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60180889 |
Feb 2000 |
US |